Sarah and Keane

On Thursday we hosted a Passover Seder for some friends at our church. It was a great time of sharing the Passover tradition and remembering all of the prophecies that Christ fulfilled. This was the third Passover I have ever led, and it is always amazing to me to be reminded of how exciting the Passover is to those that have never experienced one — sharing in the same meal that the Jewish leaders and prophets of the Old Testament participated in, the same celebration that Jesus and the disciples remembered together the night before Jesus was crucified.

It is wonderful to be able to share in the Passover and remember that, even as Jesus led the Seder, he was also fulfilling so much of the Seder’s symbolism. And, as was so often the case, Jesus not only affirmed the tradition but also took it further. During the part of the meal when you traditionally wash your hands, Jesus got up, wrapped a towel around himself, and washed the disciples’ feet. He was a true servant leader, but his actions also symbolized our need to be washed clean from our sins. Similarly, we take time during the meal to remember the lamb that was killed in order for the Jewish people to be protected from the Angel of Death that passed over the land of Egypt. Jesus’s shed blood protected us from death, as well, except that, unlike a lamb which needs to be sacrificed again and again, Jesus’s shed blood was enough for all time.

Sharing in the Passover meal on Thursday was a wonderful time of reflecting on the depths of meaning within traditions that have been handed down for generations.

Side note: Planning this Seder helped me realize how much work my mom and dad put in every year — not just in leading the service, but also in preparing for it. I am realizing more and more how much of their work I have taken for granted. Sarah and I also could not have pulled off the Seder without the generosity of all who attended from our young adults group and our small group. We feasted on a lot of tasty food, and everyone who attended came with open hearts, eager and willing to learn about the traditions and symbolism of a Messianic Seder. We will treasure the memories of that night for a long time.

So what is this BFA place, anyway?

How convenient that you asked! 🙂

BFA is short for Black Forest Academy. It’s a grade 5-12 school located in the Black Forest region of Germany, a short drive away from both France and Switzerland. BFA has been around since 1956, serving the children of international Christian workers and business families whose children do not have other viable educational opportunities. Around 350 students attend BFA, with over 200 in the high school alone. About 50% of BFA’s high schoolers are boarding students; these students represent over 50 different countries! How amazing is that?! The BFA boarding program is a really special place, a home away from home for a remarkably diverse, yet incredibly unified, group of high school students.

So why do students choose to attend BFA? As mentioned before, many students at BFA don’t have other good options in the countries where there parents are serving. I’ll use myself as an example: in 10th grade, my parents lived in Central Asia. Our local international school only offered classes through 9th grade. So when I entered 10th grade, the only options available to my family were to 1) homeschool me, 2) send me to live with extended family in the States, 3) leave the field entirely, or 4) send me to BFA. After a lot of conversations (and many tears on my mom’s part), we chose BFA. It was the right choice for me. I made so many friends and was able to take part in clubs, sports, Student Council, and Advanced Placement classes. For me, BFA was a safe place to have a “normal” high school life, form lifelong friendships, grow deeper in my faith, and experience a deep sense of belonging as I lived alongside other Third Culture Kids. (Oooh, another strange term. That’s a post for another day!)

Living apart from one’s parents is never really ideal. But for hundreds of families every year, BFA is a home away from home for their high school-aged children. Keane and I are so excited to join the staff team that makes it possible for these students to live and learn in a safe, fun, Christ-centered environment, and indirectly support Christian workers around the world.

A number of people have been asking us how they can financially support us over the next two years. This is a wonderfully encouraging question, because you know and we know that the next two years at Black Forest Academy will be dependent on the monetary gifts of brothers and sisters. We are really hoping this blog can primarily be a place of sharing about what God is doing in and around us, educating people about Missionary Kids and the experience of growing up overseas, and staying connected with lots of people while we’re living on a different continent. But right now, we’re in support-raising season, and so here we are, feeling a little self-conscious and hesitant as we write about different types of support, including that most awkwardly, emotionally triggering of things, money.

But first, for the non-triggering thing–PRAYER! I would really appreciate your prayers as we start making this big transition. Many of you know that I grew up overseas, living in four different countries within a ten-year time span. Since 2003, I’ve been putting down roots in the Chicagoland area, and I have a feeling that moving overseas as an adult is going to be a lot harder than moving overseas as a kid. The goodbyes, the luggage restrictions, the cultural shifts, the vaccinations. As excited and happy as I am about working at Black Forest Academy, as a missionary kid, I can’t help but have all these other thoughts floating around in my head. I’m a worrier, and whether you’re also a worrier or you’ve got some worriers in your life, you know I need prayer. 🙂 I want to honor God with how I live the next moment, the next day, the next two years.

We also want the next five months specifically to bring glory to God. Whether we’re sharing about BFA, packing our suitcases, or wrapping things up at work, we want God to be honored in our interactions with each other, with those around us, and in our correspondence with staff at BFA and at TeachBeyond. Please pray that the Holy Spirit would convict us of sin, that we would regularly spend time in prayer and in the Word, that we would make wise financial and logistical decisions, and that we would be able to prioritize our time in a way that strengthens our marriage, develops our friendships, and prepares us for BFA.

As for financial support, it is an interesting thing to move to a country with a stronger currency than the dollar! This means that we have to raise much more money to live in Germany than we currently need to live comfortably in Chicago. TeachBeyond has communicated with us that we need to raise roughly $4700 in monthly support, and an additional $8000 in start-up costs. That $8000 will be used to buy plane tickets, a car, and to furnish our German apartment. (Fun fact: Did you know that apartments, or flats, in Germany come completely UN-furnished? You bring your own oven, refrigerator, sometimes even your own cabinets! Thus the $8000 in start-up costs…)

If you would like to give monthly or make a one-time donation, please visit give.teachbeyond.org. The site will walk you through the options of mailing checks, using PayPal or credit cards, or making electronic transfers. If you choose to send a check, please don’t put our names on the memo line; instead, please write Project # 40307.

If you have any questions about anything I’ve shared here, please don’t hesitate to comment or send us an email at keaneandsarah@gmail.com. It is a staggeringly sobering thing to ask people to donate from their hard-earned money, and we want to be as transparent as possible in how these funds will be spent.

Thank you for all the encouraging comments, messages, and emails we have received over the last week. We are so grateful for such a community of people.

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We’ve gotten some great questions about when electronic donations begin if you use the online sign-up option. Here’s the answer! If you choose the EFT (which goes directly from a bank account to TeachBeyond), you can clearly indicate when you want the donations to begin. If you choose to donate monthly via credit card or PayPal, the withdrawals begin immediately; since we don’t leave until August, anything given before August goes automatically into our “Start-Up Fund” account, which is used to pay for the initial costs of moving to Germany, such as plane tickets and buying a car.

Keep your questions coming!